Battersea Park Controlux Air

Background

PROJECT OVERVIEW

Battersea Park is one of London’s most famous parks. It is one of the largest of the four Royal parks covering 142 Ha (350 acres). It is situated on the south bank of the River Thames opposite Chelsea and was opened in 1858. The park is Grade II listed on the Register of Historic Parks and Gardens. The park is criss-crossed and encircled by roads and footpaths.

These routes are illuminated with over 300 columns and heritage lanterns of various styles. 

Challenges

WHAT WAS INVOLVED

Keeping track of the lighting assets was a demanding administrative task and the London Borough of Wandsworth Council looked for ways to reduce the number of maintenance inspections. The goal would be to transform the existing infrastructure into a wireless platform. This would then provide an accurate and automatic way of system reporting. The system could also be used for energy saving and extending the life of the luminaires. 

The challenge was to find a solution that could be retrofitted to the existing luminaires. 

The Solution

HOW WE ACHIEVED THE RESULT

The solution was to retrofit the lanterns with the Holophane Controlux Air wireless platform. This gives the user a full, remote configuration of the site with an intuitive user interface. This is achieved using a cloud-based platform and delivers accurate and up to date reporting. 

A Controlux Air Node was fitted to each of the 317 lanterns. The node is an integrated wireless controller and is fitted inside the lantern. A small external antenna is also added. All the nodes connect together to create a wireless mesh type network when used with the Controlux Wireless Gateway. 

The Controlux system also has the option of a motion sensor. This, too, can be connected to the Wireless Gateway. One motion sensor can trigger up to 10 luminaires. The sensor can detect both pedestrians and cyclists as well as cars approaching from all directions. 

Up to 200 luminaires can be connected to one Gateway thus just two gateways were required to connect the whole of Hyde Park. The Gateway provides the server communication (via a SIM card) to the web-based Customer Interface. 

The Customer Interface is where the Controlux Air system demonstrates its real advantages.

Major customer benefits are: 

•  It provides map-based visualisations showing the location and status of every luminaire. It enables you to locate, monitor and control individual light points with ease. 

•  The graphical customer interface provides precise energy metering and this data is converted into detailed energy usage or converted to easily understood, user-friendly charts. 

•  It provides automatic failure reports in real-time. These reports result in optimised maintenance, better planning, reduced costs and extended luminaire life. 

•  Controlux Air has a host of smart analytics enabling you to make the right decision about your lighting infrastructure. 

•  In use, the Controlux Air system has the potential to generate energy savings of 40 - 50% depending on the traffic density. This then becomes a great asset for Councils in achieving their environmental goals. 

The system can also be used in industrial and commercial applications. 

Holophane is dedicated to optical and energy efficiency. The Controlux Air system is just one example of the ways Local Authorities and end-users can meet their environmental, energy and circular economy commitments. The whole Holophane approach to this philosophy is detailed in their EarthLIGHT brochure